The Road Trip
by NeonJackal214
Summary: To celebrate Nick's graduation from the Police Academy, Nick and Judy decide to go on a road trip to try to visit a remote and beautiful part of the mountains. Judy wants to convince Nick to confront his past, and Nick... well, Nick has some other things he needs to confront. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, I'm back. What a long wait, I know. However, I got this idea and I felt crazy inspired so I decided I'd write again sooner rather than later. This is going to be a short, fluff-filled little fic about a road trip, and then after this I'm going to start on Warmbloods: Save Rock and Roll. With that in mind, hope you enjoy, and that this will tide the insatiable WildeHopps cravings most of this fan base has. Enjoy.**

Chapter One: A Curious Proposal

Nicholas Wilde didn't let other mammals get to him. In the line of work that he'd been in for so long, letting mammals get to you was an offense which could get your snout broken. Instead, he'd learned to bury his feelings and show roughly the same amount of emotion as a drugged walrus at all times. This was why when he did feel something, it surprised him. That's probably how this all started- with him acting emotional.

"Emotional" is not generally the word used for the feeling one has signing up for the Police Academy, but that was what Nick had almost nine months ago now. He still has trouble believing that it was that long ago, that he's spent so long pushing his mind and body to the absolute limits. Every belief he had, every notion he had about what animals could do and how far he could go to survive- all of that was tested in this place. All of that to say- _thank cheese he's out._

Nick stands quietly by the edge of his small bunk in the Police Academy barracks, trying to clear his head. He wears nothing but a simplistic light blue shirt and athletic shorts. His mind wanders.

 _In two weeks, I graduate._ He can't believe it; the training seems like a blur now. In two weeks, he'll be on the beat with Officer Toot-Toot, the optimistic, carrot farming, happy little bunny he somehow got blessed to have as a partner. Two weeks, fourteen days, just _three hundred and thirty six hours away._

But who's counting? He's certainly not.

It's a terrifying prospect, but he's more than a little excited. More so than ever, a new emotion fills him. It's not joy or excitement, but a strong and almost overpowering sense of _self-satisfaction._ He has a good reason for feeling this way. He's about to become the first fox in his family to have a real job. His father was a con man, his sister was a mafia associate, and his mother- _cheese and crackers, his mother-_ was a drug dealer. Nick? He was a police officer somehow, and he wasn't even sure how that was possible at this point.

Of course, the thoughts of his mother bring back the events of a few minutes ago. He was downstairs, filling out the final paperwork for his entry into the ZPD's precinct one, and was asked to give the information for an emergency contact. Almost subconsciously, he filled out Judy's information, and handed in the sheet. The lamb at the desk gave the forms a precursory glance and looked up.

"You didn't put down a parent as your emergency contact?" She asked.

"Did I have to?" Nick said, feigning surprise. He gets this more than the lamb in front of him might think.

"Well, I mean…" The lamb said nervously, flipping to the page. "I suppose it's alright… do you not have a living relative?"

"Oh yeah, plenty of 'em." Nick drawled. "Of course, if I get shot, I don't exactly want a bunch of drunk foxes waltzing in and claiming they can take care of me, so I'd rather put down someone I trust." That got her to shut up, and Nick had hurried upstairs.

He didn't understand why the questions downstairs got to him, and he still doesn't. His mother and family has just been a sort of dark spot on his mind for a while, but they haven't actually bothered him. They've just sort of been there, a dark motivator in the back of his mind pushing him up that ice wall during training.

 _ringringringringringringRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRINGRING!_

Nick grins in spite of himself. Before he left for the Academy, Judy took his phone and uploaded a personalized ringtone onto it. It's a simple telephone ring which gets higher in pitch and louder the longer it's left unanswered. Apparently, it's the ringtone on Judy's phone for her parents. Nick wasn't sure how to take that. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and slides right to answer the MuzzleTime call. Judy's face appears on the screen, her fur still wet from the shower. For some reason, he gets a little light in the chest when he thinks of that, but brushes it away as graduation nerves.

"Hey, cottontail. What's shaking?" He smiles.

"Nick! I can't believe you're actually graduating!" She shrieks. "It's so exciting! I actually get to see you again."

 _Holy hell, I forgot about that,_ Nick thinks, almost fumbling the phone in his paws. He's allowed to see Judy again starting today. He is no longer in training and thus can actually meet with people from the outside. The thought gives him goosebumps under his fur.

"We should celebrate." Judy suggests.

"I suppose, but I'm not really big on partying." Nick admits. "Alcohol makes me very irrational and I can't stand store-bought frosting."

"Nicholas Wilde!" She reprimands. "I have seen you eat frosting off of that cake I made you after you were accepted to the academy from your very _paws_ it was so good!"

"Store-bought, Carrots, store-bought. What you made me was heaven on a platter. How did you even make blueberry buttercream frosting?"

She winks over the phone. "Family secret, Nick."

Nick has to laugh at this. Judy leans in close, looking at him, so close he can see the violet in her eyes clearly and it makes his chest hurt, is friendship supposed to hurt this much? She looks at him for a while, and then pulls the camera back and leans back on her bed, looking critically at him.

"What's wrong?" She asks.

"Nothing's wrong." He lies in response.

"Nick, seriously, you look really tired."

"Carrots…" He begins. _How can she read me so well? It's like I'm an open book._ "It's my family."

"Nick, what's going on?" She asks gently. Slowly, the story of the day's events pour out. It always does with her, for some reason, and that's not a good thing. If he's going to keep that seemingly perfect record of 'nobody gets to me', then this thing that Judith Laverne Hopps is pulling over and over again needs to stop. He doesn't tell her this, of course. Why would he.

 _Because I like it…_

Nick ignores the thought which crosses his own mind and continues to tell the story.

"I don't know, Carrots, but like, it just bugs me, y'know? Like 'yeah, I'm putting a rabbit down as my emergency contact,' so just get over it."

"Yeah, I know." She sighs. "Some mammals are just odd, Nick. However, that isn't going to distract me from the point."

"What's the point?" Nick asks, bewildered.

"You haven't talked to your mother in _how long_ " She interrogates, bringing the phone closer to herself and enlarging the size of her face. Nick flinches internally.

"Umm… five years?" He says sheepishly.

"NICHOLAS WILDE!" Judy shouts loudly. In the background, he can hear a thumping noise begin to escalate wildly in speed. Her foot twitch, of course.

"Judy, I'm sorry! It's just… my mom- it's- it's complicated."

She softens, if only slightly. "Nick, that's no excuse to not talk to her. She's your mother, she raised you. You should tell her what you're doing, she'd be so proud of you. Everyone is."

"Everyone?" He says slyly. "Carrots, I know like two mammals- you and Flash, and while Flash has expressed pride, it's through very interrupted two to three letter texts."

"I'm crazy proud of you, you dumb fox." She says, and, why, _is that a blush he detects?_ "You've turned your life around and you've saved my life twice over this past year."

"Cheers to that." Nick says, raising an imaginary glass. There's a pause, in which Nick desperately tries to think of what to say next. Suddenly, even through the whirling and spinning of his mind, an idea occurs to him.

"Carrots, how would you like to go on a road trip?" He asks.

She blinks. "That'd be amazing, of course…" She pauses, "But why would we do it? Where would we go?"

"The Bear Paw Mountains." He says. It was one of his mother's pieces of wisdom before she sort of vanished. She told him that if he ever needed to think something over, to really get over something or clear his head, a good old-fashioned road trip to the Bear Paws would be just what the doctor ordered.

"I've never been there!" She says, looking excited.

"Well, me neither, actually." He admits. "I know that they're to the east of the city, about a 20 hour drive, and that they've got the tallest mountains in the region, but other than that, I've got no idea what to expect."

"Oooh, so we're both going into this blind?" Judy says, anticipation evident in her voice. "This is going to be great, Nick!"

"When do you want to go?"

"How about two days from now?"

"Seems fair. I've got two weeks before graduation, so why don't we make the trip seven days- two to get there, three actually there, camping or whatever, and then two back?"

"Sound great!" She claps her paws. "I'm so excited! Okay, I'll send you a bunch of links to ideas for what to do when we get there, okay? That way we can prepare."

"Whatever you want, Carrots. Sounds great, but I can't promise I'm going to read all the stuff you send me."

"What if I gave you a pop quiz on it when I see you?" She asks, an evil smile spreading on her face. Nick blanches.

"You wouldn't dare."

She giggles. "Alright, alright, you got me. Wait a sec." She freezes, her eyes suddenly concerned. She jumps and then looks at Nick through the camera. "Nick, we don't have a car!"

"Not a problem." Nick answers smoothly. She's not going to believe the kind of car, of course. That's always difficult for people to handle. He actually owns two cars. One is his pride and joy, and the other one is his business and transport car. His business and transport car? A Moosan Pathfinder from ten years ago. His pride-and-joy car is a Jaguar. It was the first thing he got with his hustling money. A stupid impulse purchase, and yet he somehow managed to pay off the loan and keep it.

 _I'll pick her up in the Jaguar and get us to the mountains in the Pathfinder,_ he decides firmly.

"Yeah, don't worry Carrots, I've got the transportation covered."

"Good." She chirps. "Why don't we up the ante a little bit, then?"

"Carrots…" Nick trails off, curiously.

"If I can convince you to talk to your mother over the trip, you'll do it when we get back. And if I don't convince you over the trip, you don't have to and I won't bug you about it again."

Nick looks at her for a very long time, and finally speaks. "Deal, Carrots."

"Alright!" She pumps a fist with a delighted expression. "Perfect. Alright, you'll pick me up at my apartment in…?"

"Two days."

"9 A.M. sharp. Don't be late!" She says. "This is going to be great. Alright, so back to you, how's the Academy treated y-!" She's cut off by a ringing on her end. I listen intently and begin to laugh as I hear my ringtone echoed on the other side of the line.

"Damn, it's my parents." She murmurs. "I've gotta go, Nick."

"Don't worry about it, Carrots. Tell Stu 'hi' for me." Nick has only met Stu and Bonnie once- while Judy was in the hospital after being chased by Bellwether. After a long conversation, the two rabbits had become quite taken with Nick, asking how he was every time they saw Judy. Nick knew that Stu had a habit of sending boxes of blueberries to the Academy and having them delivered to Nick, but he wondered if this wasn't just a tactic to indebt Nick to him. Either way, he wasn't about to complain any time soon.

"I will." Judy smiles. "See you soon."

"See you, Carrots."

The call ends and Nick stares at the screen for a while. Without warning, he decides to go downstairs to the weight room. He needs to do something physical to quell this strange, unbidden tide of emotion. If he was hustling right now, he'd be as good as dead.

Two hours and a bottle of Gatorade later, Nick walks back to his room, thoroughly exhausted. The Academy has a pretty nice weight room, but that place was hell for Nick back in the beginning of his training. He could barely bench press the bar, but training and fighting helps you with that. He walks in and flops on the bed, winded and mentally absent. He picks up his phone from where he left it on the bed and turns it on. A small notification on the screen displays a notice that he has received one email. He slides right, unlocks the phone, and sits up to read the email.

TO: born. .wilde

FROM:

SUBJECT: Nick, what about this?

 _Okay, I know you thought I was going to send a bunch of emails with all sorts of ideas, but I think this is the only thing I want to do. I've included a link below._

 _Judy :D_

 _(P.S. Dad says hi, Mom asks if you're okay after all that training. I said hi back and that you probably were.)_

Nick snorts, and keeps reading.

( _P.P.S: Chief Bogo is trying to act incensed that you're coming to our precinct, but I think he's actually happy about it. He likes you, I think, he just can't show it.)_

Nick smiles, and clicks on the link. It opens the web page on his phone's browser. Normally, he wouldn't have room for the data, but for money's sake, he and Judy share a phone plan with unlimited talk, text, and data. It's a nice little bargain, shared between two mammals. He leans over and begins to read.

 **ADVENTURE AND DANGER IN THE BEAR PAW MOUTAINS!**

 _By Zootopia Parks and Recreation Ranger Jeremy Buckthorne_

 _Many mammals know the Bear Paw Mountains for its scenic heights and great waterfalls and camping sites. However, the mountain range's greatest treasure is hidden between two of the largest mountains. Known as "Firefly Valley," the gorge is located between Mount Crystalline and Rabbit's Foot Mountain. This valley has been ranked the number one "Most Beautiful Location near Zootopia" in MAMMAL magazine. A warning: this beauty comes with a cost. In order to actually get to the valley, the adventurous animal would need to complete three things: a six hour raft ride into the woods, an eight hour hike onto the base of Rabbit's Foot Mountain, and another, more dangerous six hour hike over steep and rocky terrain into the scenic valley._

 _The valley contains three things: The Whispering Forest, known for many rare varieties of trees and shrubs, the Mirror Lake, which is perfectly circular and contains water which is almost completely clear, and the legendary Volcanic Lights, which are impossible to describe. The location and scenery are well worth the journey. No photography equipment is allowed in or out of the mountains to preserve the secrecy of the location._

Nick gulps. The journey looks like the single most punishing thing he could possibly choose to do. But then again, he'd also chosen to become a police officer. And there was another, added bonus to this plan: Carrots would be too distracted with the actual hiking and rafting to talk to him about his mother. He opened a new email, and typed his response slowly, carefully making sure of every word.

 _You're insane, you dumb bunny. Let's do it._

 **A/N 2: R &R if you want, or PM me to let me know how I'm doing. Always appreciated. Thank you for reading.**

 **NJ**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The Open Road

As a matter of principal, Nick didn't enjoy showing off. Well, okay- he loved showing off in terms of how smart he was and how cunning he could be, but in terms of money he was only a show off at certain times. He generally tried to be as innocuous as possible in terms of how he walked, talked, dressed, and moved. If he owned anything nice or above societal norm, he knew that he would get looks, that he would get whispers behind his back as mammals speculated about how many people he must have pickpocketed to own something so nice. He didn't like that; it interfered with his ability t act calm and controlled at all times. This sentiment was nice and all, but, of course, it led him to strongly question why he was riding around the streets of Zootopia in a black short sleeved shirt, jeans, and on the wheels of a Jaguar convertible. The actual car containing the stuff for the trip was in a parking garage on the outskirts of the city, but he figured it would be funnier to see her reaction if he pulled up in this.

He's got music playing- he likes a couple of Gazelle's newest songs, but generally his tastes tend to turn more into the areas of classic rock. Generally, this kind of convertible would be blasting some new form of pop music so loud everyone on the street could hear it. Nick, however, is perfectly content with playing "Deaf Leopard" at a normal volume.

"Hey, fox!" A voice calls. He turns his head, eyes shaded in a pair of mirrored silver aviators he got himself as a gift for finishing training. A pair of lions is seated in a very nice Lamb-Borghini. The male lion appears to have deferred to the female, as she's the one driving the car. Nick resists the urge to snort. The lion looks him up and down. "Where'd you get the car?"

"Stole it." Nick says blandly. To his credit, the lion tries to act shocked, but only fails in pulling a pitying grimace. Nick breaks into a cynical sneer. "You must be overestimating me. I bought it, just like you bought that."

There's a police siren which echoes in the distance. The lion blanches, and turns to the other, gesticulating wildly. The driver seems to get the message and guns it, speeding off through a red light. Nick looks to the spot where they vanished, surprised, and then shrugs. _I guess you can never tell._

Nick makes careful movements so as not to scratch the car and pulls it onto the street where the Pangolin Arms Apartments are situated. The street is heavily crowded with pedestrian traffic but he's only one of three cars total on the road. He can feel sets of eyes drawn as if by a magnet to his car, and he resists the urge to gun the engine. He pulls up outside the Pangolin Arms and waits.

The door to the apartment building opens just after he pulls up and Judy emerges from within, tugging a large hiking backpack and a small suitcase behind her. She's struggling to get the backpack through the door of the building, but succeeds within a few tries. Judy has dressed casual- a light blue tee shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes. There's no reason it should cause Nick any form of pain, it's just clothing. And yet Nick feels his throat constricting at the sight of her, the way she moves, the little twitches of her ears. He shakes his muzzle, as though trying to get water out of his ears. _I must have really missed her._

She turns toward the curb, and Nick feels an odd swelling sensation when he sees how her face lights up when she sees him. She walks towards him, eyes looking him up and down, until she catches sight of the car. Her jaw drops.

"Nicholas Wilde." She says, sounding shocked. "Is this your car?!"

"Is it a nice car? Yes. Is it also mine? It happens to be that as well." He turns off the engine and steps outside. "Good to see you, Carrots."

She walks over and embraces him, head against his chest. He smiles and hugs her back, allowing her scent- honey and earth- to wash away the rainy, gloomy days of the Academy. He tries not to say anything to ruin the moment, but she pulls away and it's gone too soon for his liking. She walks around the car, giving it a look from every angle.

"It's not the car we're actually taking on the trip, but I thought it would be funny to pick you up in it anyways."

"You own a Jaguar?!" She whispers, stunned. "How did you pay for this?"

"An inheritance." Nick says amiably. It's technically true; some of the money for the car came from the money he got when his father passed away. However, he got enough money from his father's death to pay for dozens of cars like this, but he donated most of it to charity. It meant that he could both hustle the government and clear whatever remains of a conscience he had left, because he didn't want the money that his dad had left him. He didn't know where it had come from, and that was not something to be appreciated.

"Wow…" Judy whispers. "I've always wanted to ride in one of these…"

"Well, put some glasses on first, Fluff." Nick pulls a second pair of aviators, identical to his own set, from one of his pockets and tosses them to Judy.

"Why?" She asks slowly, taking the sunglasses and looking them over.

Nick gives a wicked grin. "Because I don't exactly follow the speed limit, Officer. Let's roll."

Nick's comment about following the speed limit was true enough, and soon the car is zooming through the heart of Zootopia, Judy laughing like a kit in a candy store next to Nick, one paw on the wheel, the other out the window as the scenery turns into a colorful blur. Nick allows his innate sense of direction to take over, charting the course through the city to the edge of the Sahara district, pulling the car up to an enormous dune shaped building which contained a parking garage. Carefully, Nick steers the vehicle inside the building, parking it next to a dark blue SUV. Nick opens his door, walks from the car, and promptly unlocks the trunk of the SUV to the left of them and begins to load the stuff from the convertible into the back of the blue truck. The back of the SUV already has a few items inside- Nick's tent, from when he used to camp out a lot, a couple of sleeping bags, a cooler, and a two mammal kayak for the portion which they're going to have to raft (Nick hates rafting with a passion, he'd rather do it in a kayak). As he begins to unload the stuff from his other car, he's pleased to find that Judy has brought a couple of things on her own, like another backpack, a large cooler, a couple of extra blankets, and a large, very expensive looking camera case. Nick goes to open it, and finds inside that the case contains (surprise, surprise) a very expensive Mikon camera.

"I thought we could take pictures when we got there!" Judy says, taking the case from him and putting it into the car. "Y'know, because it's so crazy beautiful out there."

"Well, we'll see, right?" Nick says wryly, shutting the trunk. She laughs, and then looks up at him shyly. His face heats up rapidly as he looks into her great, violet eyes.

"I missed you, Nick."

"I missed me too, Carrots."

"Nick!" She laughs, punching his arm.

"Sorry, sorry." He smiles. "I missed you too, Fluff."

She walks forward and hugs him, not the quick embrace that she gave him before they got in the car, but a nice, long, nobody's-around-so-I'll-do-it-for-as-long-as-I-want kind of hug. Nick closes his eyes and waits silently, forcing down rebellious thoughts about how nice this is and how he wants to experiment with kissing a rabbit and waits until she lets go.

"So, you've got to tell me all about training." She says as they step into their respective sides of the car. "How'd you like it?"

"You know me, Judy." Nick gives her that signature sly smile of his. "I just love early morning wake ups and long runs in the freezing rain." He turns on the car and pulls it out of the lot, onto the streets and into the sunlight again.

The next forty five minutes are a blur, as Nick drives the car to the edge of Sahara Square, where a ferry waits to take cars across the small channel to the open, grassy plains on the other side of the city. The time passes easily as the pair discusses every possible thing that happened to Nick during training, Judy finding Nick's story about going into the sand and wind obstacle particularly funny.

"That polar bear didn't like me before that, so I figured _screw it,_ and I just like did my casual hustler walk with a pair of old sunglasses through the sand and the wind. I think I got like ten or twelve extra laps later for that but they were totally worth it." Nick chuckles

"You know that polar bear could deck you in multiple different ways, right, fox?" Judy gives him a questioning glare.

"Yes, but then again, I think that's just a side effect of teaching police officers."

The ferry ride is laborious, taking almost thirty minutes to cross just a small waterway. When the ferry pulls up to the dock, Nick is alert, getting the car out with ease and pulling it onto the highway within five minutes.

Judy is fiddling with his radio, which is currently playing an old song by the band Furvana. Nick doesn't have any particular attachment to the song, but he's not really listening to it. His mind is working, trying to pin down a definite route to the Bear Paw Mountains.

"Oh crud!" He shouts, a realization hitting him hard.

"What is it?" Judy cries, almost falling out of her seat.

"I forgot to book hotel rooms for the journey there and back!" Nick slaps his forehead. "I'm so dumb."

"Well, while I'd agree with that…" Judy smirks. "I booked hotel rooms."

"Sly bunny." Nick says, duly impressed.

"Dumb fox."

"Dumb fox operating a moving vehicle." Nick says brightly.

"Hmmm…" Judy contemplates this for a second. "No, you wouldn't kill me, even if you had the power to."

"Why not, Carrots?" He says, the scenery outside the windows zooming by. "Name one reason why I wouldn't intentionally run this car into a tree right now."

"Because you love me."

Nick tries to hide the blush he knows is going on under his fur and the screaming in his eyes by flipping the shades back up over his eyes.

"Damn straight." He grins, proud at how calm he seems, and how well he manages to pull it off.

The duo drives until the sun is so low in the sky the clouds are turning orange and the sky is a light teal. The scenery blurs past as they play stupid games and talk about anything and everything that comes to their minds as the plains and grasslands around them start to become more forested and rocky. Nick loves this part of the trip more than anything. Back when he was really little, one of his first actual memories involves a car and a road trip. He loves watching the changing scenery and that strange something in the air as the altitude grows higher. He's a little disappointed when, by consulting a map, Judy tells him that their hotel is quite close to them. He wanted to see the Bear Paws today, see them rising into the sky like giant claws.

"Where did you book us?" He asks Judy as they pull off the highway. She smiles slowly.

"Well, my parents give me two percent of the money from what we get on the harvest, which is coming up, but they decided to give me some money early, so I decided we would stay in comfort for a couple of nights."

Nick's throat clenches as the hotel comes into sight, and he's suddenly very glad that he always keeps a couple of different styles of clothing in this car at all times. The hotel is the fanciest place he's ever seen.

"It's technically a luxury resort where you can stay to get away from Zootopia for a while, but I managed to pull some strings to get us a room for one night." She says with a smile. "Apparently, they have one of the best restaurants in the region here."

Oh, Nick was perfectly aware of that. More aware than she could possibly register. He tries to still his breathing, and as he looks at Judy, finds that it slows down enough so that he can think. An odd idea comes to mind.

 _You're going to need to hustle, Nick old boy._

He pulls the car up to the hotel, and Carrots jumps out.

"This is why you told me to bring something nice, right?" He says.

"Yep!" She beams. She'd told him that yesterday, and he'd only taken her half seriously. She should've explained over the MuzzleTime two days ago. However, this was the car he used during hustles, and he always kept a suit in here. It was absolutely necessary during big gambles that the mark think that you were respectable. The oddest thing was, he actually was respectable now.

"I've got to call my parents, Nick, so I'll go check in. If you want to just change and meet me downstairs, that's okay!" She says brightly, and hops off towards the main doors. He sighs, and opens the trunk of the car, looking up at the ceiling, where a large hanging basket has a jet black suit, white shirt and emerald tie tucked into it. He shakes his head slightly, and gives a small grin as he begins to realize what he's getting into. Nick changes in the car, and five minutes later he's out again, tying the emerald tie in the review mirror. He tightens it, runs a hand through his fur, and turns sharply to walk into the hotel.

The lobby is monstrous, like a cathedral. Nick has to be impressed. Judy was right; this place has got the works. Fountains in the lobby, legit sushi bar, a pretty nice looking veggie-burger place. Of course, the place Judy was referring to is called "The Mark" and the doors to it are located on the other side of the lobby. The bouncer is a large black bear, who looks bored out of his skull. Nick sidles up to him.

"Nice night, tonight." He says idly.

"Yep." The bear says.

"Good night for a hustle, wouldn't ya say, Damion?" He asks quietly. The bear jumps a foot in the air, and turns to face Nick.

"Well, I'll be damned. If it isn't Nick Wilde!" He cries, slapping Nick on the back. "How you been, buddy? Still running from that vixen Aurora?"

"Nah, she caught up with me and slapped me to hell and back." Nick laughs. The bear chuckles, and then looks around.

"What're you doing here? Isn't this place a little expensive for you?" He says, trying and failing to hide the suspicion in his voice. Nick tries not to wrinkle his nose. There's a reason he tries not to talk to Damion. He likes to try to be friends with everyone, but is really just prejudiced and a tad bigoted on the inside.

"Actually, no." Nick says. "I was wondering if you could get me the VIP treatment in there."

"It's gonna cost you." Damion growls.

"I have a cop with me." Nick says, polishing his nails and trying hard not to grin at the way Damion's face contorts with shock and horror. Then, Damion laughs outright.

"Yeah right, Wilde! That's a load of horse shit! I mean come on, what, are you going on a _date_ with a cop?!"

This time, it's Nick who has to keep his face from contorting, but he does it fairly successfully. "Not- not like- no, I'm not."

Damion roars with laughter. "Oh, okay, so who is this 'cop' you have with you, Judy Hopps?!" He leans over and starts bashing his fist on the table, howling with laughter.

"Did he say my name, Nick?" Judy has appeared behind him. Damion stops laughing instantly. Judy is wearing a midnight blue gown and a diamond choker. Nick tries not to black out from the way his brain is short circuiting.

"Why yes, Carrots, he did. Damion here is an old friend of mine. Damion, meet Judy "beats-up-rhinos-for-fun" Hopps." Judy hops onto the counter and reaches out her paw. Damion, trembling slightly, shakes it. Nick grins. "Damion here," he continues in a relaxed voice, "was just about to get us the VIP experience, weren't you, Damion?"

"N-n-Yes, I was!" Damion splutters. "Right away!" He walks inside quickly. Judy looks up at Nick, giving him a slow inspection with her violet eyes.

"You look nice." She says quietly.

"You look…" Nick struggles to find the right word. He needs to find something that will convey just how nice she looks without showing anything about the feelings which he still doesn't understand. There are some things she doesn't need to know yet, and he still can't quite put the pain in his chest into words.

"You look phenomenal, Fluff." He smiles wryly. "Let's eat."

Dinner is, of course, unbelievable. Nick gets a Greek Salad and is just amazed at how everything comes together perfectly. Of course, the two of them split a crème brulee, which is just unbelievable. By the time that they finish dinner, it's almost 11 at night. Judy is so tired she almost falls asleep on Nick's arm in the elevator, and so Nick decides to carry her to the room. Slowly, her body in his arms, he navigates the silent halls of the hotel, finding the door to their room and opening it. He cracks the door open, walks in, turns the light on with his shoulder, and closes the door. Judy is only half awake in his arms, looking as though she still wants to go to sleep.

"Niiiiiick." She groans.

"Hold on, Carrots, almost there." Nick soothes, walking into the room where two carefully made twin beds lie. He goes to set her down, but finds to his surprise that she's already asleep, a faint smile on her lips. He smiles and places her into the bed on the right, careful to remove the jewelry her shoes first. He goes to the light, and allows himself one more look at her before turning off the lights.

 _Dumb bunny._

 **A/N: This chapter is fluff-tastic, and I don't even care! I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out, honestly. Don't worry, there's still an ocean more of stuff like this ahead. We haven't even made the fox and the bunny smooch yet.**

 **"The fox and the bunny must smooch."**

 **-Kittah4 on /r/zootopia**

 **Thank you for reading. I appreciate it as always. Stay tuned.**

 **NJ**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Of Tattoos and Troubled Pasts

"You want to go _where?"_ Nick asks incredulously, checking the gas bar on the dashboard for the thirtieth time that day.

"You saw the signs, Nick! The world's largest cornfield!" Judy cries.

"Y'know, Carrots, I never saw you as the type to get slammed with the tourist attraction ads, but here we are." Nick deadpans.

"Well, I grew up in a small town, you know." Judy explains. "By the time I was ten I knew every nook and cranny of Bunnyburrow, so when I moved I wanted to—!"

"TRY EVERYTHING!" Nick sings in a high, off key falsetto. Judy glowers at him and he bursts out laughter. "You can't be serious. Were you actually going to say that?"

"As a matter of fact, I was." She says, turning her nose in the air. Nick grins and ups the speed another ten miles an hour.

The scenery outside the vehicle is now almost entirely woodlands, with large swathes of open plains where the woods were cleared by settlers long ago to farm and cultivate the land. Nick came out here once before, to really try to think things over after his life changed following the Night Howler press conference. He's never gone to the Bear Paws, but he's gone close enough to them to be able to see the peaks, which are coming into view slowly over the horizon, getting bigger and bigger through the windshield.

"Nick, we haven't had time to…" Judy starts abruptly and then trails off almost immediately. She looks as though she's trying to find the best way to phrase something that's been on her mind. Nick feels himself tense up, readying himself for the question.

"We- I- Nick, I want to talk about your family." She bursts out, looking a little sheepish. Nick's guard is up, and so he manages to control most of his features, barely pulling a look of resignation instead of the blatant anger that normally comes up when people ask about the people who raised him.

 _Don't let her see how angry they made you. No anger, not for her. Not ever for her._

"Well, Carrots, I suppose you do." Nick sighs, every syllable controlled and forced. "How about this: you get three questions a day for the remainder of the trip, and you can ask them at any point during the day. I'll answer them as honestly as I can, and won't dodge the question. You saved my life, I guess you probably deserve this."

"Damn straight!" She smiles. "Alright, let's see." Her face morphs into an expression of total focus as she tries to think of her first question. Nick catches himself staring at her and focuses back on the road, not a second too late. _Don't let her catch you doing that, dumb fox. She'll know instantly, she's not stupid._

"Alright, let's go with this." She looks up. "Nick, I know you wanted to be a scout, but where did you grow up?"

She delivers the line in such a bright, optimistic voice. She doesn't know what implications it carries, of course. She doesn't know the memories it stirs up, but he doesn't hold it against her. Why would he? She doesn't understand, and probably never will, that not all of Zootopia is beautiful and mostly peaceful. She was raised in a happy little town with happy little parents, and thus she wouldn't understand the horror that was the place where Nick grew up. He takes a shaky breath, and breathes out as the memories crash in like a waterfall. _Breathe in, breathe out. She has two more questions like this? What the fuck was I thinking?!_

"Carrots, do me a favor and look really close at the fur on the back of my right paw." He says, a lot more calm than he feels. Judy obliges, oblivious to his inner panic. She looks closely, her paws gently moving the fur away from the skin underneath.

"Oh!" She cries. "You have a tattoo?"

"Just one, yes."

She looks hard at the back of his paw, and reads aloud.

"Hell is an actual place and I've been there. Nothing could be worse than…" She looks up at him, finishing the sentence slowly. "1421 East Park Avenue, Sahara Square?"

"That," Nick says quietly. "was my childhood address. I lived there for about half my life, until I sort of left after I had a gigantic fight with my mother. It's the reason I had to put down you apartment on my application to the force. To the extent of my knowledge, my mom might still live there. So, to answer your question concisely," He turns to her, grateful again for the protection of the sunglasses. "My childhood was hell in a handbasket. When I was eleven, my mom got addicted to drugs, and my dad ran away. My sister dropped out of high school and joined the mafia, where she worked as an informant. She might be the only one who still knows where I am and what I'm doing. I told my mom when I was almost eighteen that she needed to get clean and she told me to leave and I did and I never, ever regretted it. You might be surprised to know that what I did for a living- the _hustling_ \- was actually the most legal thing that anyone in my family had ever done."

"Nick."

"Carrots, let me finish. I told them that I'd make something of myself, and they didn't believe me. I'm about to be a police officer and prove every mammal who said I was just a fox wrong."

"Nick, I never knew!"

"I know, Fluff. I know, but you asked, and now you do."

He turns his attention back to the road almost automatically, forcing himself to not think about that fight at the end. It comes back to him, of course. He can't stop that.

" _You're not my son!"_

 _"_ _You don't mean that."_

 _"_ _I hope you die!"_

 _"_ _Mom, please."_

 _"_ _Get out! Get out! Get! Get!"_

 _"_ _Fine! Leave me the fuck alone!"_

A pair of soft paws wrap around his shoulders. Judy is standing up, hugging him tightly and putting her head on his shoulder. Breathing in slowly.

"I'm sorry." She murmurs.

"I am too, but it's neither of our responsibilities."

"I shouldn't have asked, Nick."

"Well, if only because it ruined the killer vibe we had going." Nick says hollowly.

"You can't stay serious for five seconds, you know that, right?" Judy's voice is muffled.

"Oh yeah, I've been told." He laughs.

"Nick, I really am sorry."

"Judy." She snaps her head up, looking startled. He never uses her name. "You saved me from becoming my parents, and that's more than enough for me to forgive you a thousand times over. I know that you're sorry, but you don't have to be. You were just curious."

"Thanks, Nick." She's blushing. Why is she blushing?

"No problem, and don't thank me. Just keep doing what you're doing." Nick's face relaxes, and his heart rate returns to normal. "You've still got two questions."

"Oh, yeah." She looks at him apprehensively. "Are you sure?"

"Well, yeah. I stick to my word."

"Um… okay." She looks thoughtful again, and then looks at him with an eager expression. "Okay, this sounds weird, but… what were you like in high school?"

"Are you kidding me, Fluff?" He laughs. "I was the same old me. I ran track, actually."

"No way!"

"Yep. Varsity for three years. I ran with Flash."

"You're joking. There is no way that sloth could run track."

"Not competitively, no. He still worked out with us and he was my personal coach for a while."

Judy looks at him for a while, and he swears that just for a second, he can see her nose twitch a little as a new idea occurs to him.

"Do you…" She blushes, and then keeps talking in a rush. "Do you still have your varsity jacket?"

A wide, toothy smile spreads over Nick's face. "Why, Carrots, do you have a thing for athletic foxes?!" He asks in mock surprise.

"Nick! You know it's not like that!" She's definitely blushing now. Nick laughs, but feels a little twinge in his chest.

 _I sort of wish it was, Cottontail._

He waves the thought away hurriedly. "In answer to that question, I actually do. That jacket got me through some tough times. I think it's in the bottom of my trunk back at the Police Academy."

There's a few minutes of comfortable silence as Nick turns his head to check road signs as the car crests a hill and a small town is laid out on the horizon, evident for the two to see. In the distance, the horizon goes green as the forest reappears and then turns into a set of jagged green and gray teeth as the Bear Paw mountains shoot into the air. The mountains stand hauntingly out against the drab neon lights and pavement of the city, whose streetlights glitter like fireflies.

"Wow." Judy whispers.

"Well, this was a good idea, now wasn't it." Nick says mildly. "Where do you want to eat, Officer?"

It takes Judy a good ten to fifteen minutes on her phone using the Zoogle Maps app to find a place to eat. It's a wood fired pizza joint called "Bruno's." Nick agrees to it because- come on, it's _pizza._ Nick doesn't say no to pizza. That goes against his very morals.

When they get there, they're seated instantly as they've beaten the evening rush by about ten minutes. The pizza is top notch, some of the best stuff Nick has ever had. The evening passes admirably. Nick recognizes a bartender who he went to high school with and the two laugh and talk with Judy. Nick has a root beer, which is the only drink that he can actually stomach on a road trip, and soon enough, the rabbit and the fox are stuffed. Nick pays for the meal, because that's the least you can do when you take a girl out on a date.

But this isn't a date.

Obviously.

Why would it be?

Judy found a decent hotel in the area, and since she had booked at home, all that was really left to do was reach the place and pass out. Both mammals were tired, the open road having sapped their energy. Nick, however, was also acutely aware that they looked like tourists, and so, before beginning their walk to downtown, gave Judy a change of clothes he had brought.

"Why do I have to wear this? It makes me look like I came home from summer camp." She complains.

"Trust me, you'll see." Nick warns. He's proven right. They walk alongside two mammals coming from a different restaurant that appear to also be en route to the Bear Paws. However, even at night, the town buzzes with activity. Nick recognizes three to seven hustlers, at least, and he's sure Judy sees them as well. She's walking next to him and watching a group of ferrets who have a table open on the side of the street with open caution. One ferret yells to Nick.

"Blackjack, sir? Win your girl a prize?"

Nick grins. _Yes, please._

"Alright." He says blithely, walking across the street.

"Nick!" Judy says.

"Trust me. Deal me in." Nick says glibly. The ferret grins and deals him in. Nick is already aware the ferret is cheating, that he'll get a perfect twenty one every single time. However, Nick is also cheating. And he's cheating better.

"Hit me." He says calmly. The dealer hits him, and Nick looks. He's counted the cards perfectly.

"Show 'em." The ferret flips over his cards. A queen and an ace of clubs. He starts to laugh, and then Nick puts his cards down. A king and an ace of spades.

"What do I get?" He asks. The ferret stares openmouthed at the cards. Nick winks at him.

"Get hustled." He murmurs under his breath, picking the ace of spades up off the table and sliding it back up into his sleeve.

Judy walks next to him for a while, watching him carefully.

"That was a dirty trick." She observes.

"Yep."

"It was pretty cool, though." She admits.

"Thanks, Carrots. Means a lot." He says sarcastically.

"Nick!" she laughs. "Seriously though. You shouldn't have let the ferret get to you. It could have been dangerous."

"Fluff, I had you with me." Nick smiles. "I could have been facing a bull elephant for all it mattered."

She smiles, and under the light from the moon overhead, her eyes glitter.

"Dumb fox."

"Sly bunny."

 **A/N: Get ready for next chapter, because it's a fluff-tastrophe. Anyone else want to see WildeHopps try to whitewater raft? Just me? Too bad, because that's what you're going to get. Thank you for reading/putting up with/encouraging me. It means a ton.**

 **Stay chill.**

 **NJ**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Class Four White Water Rapids— _who needs 'em?!_

"So let me guess, Carrots," Nick says, a sly grin crawling up onto his face as he steers the car along the windy and ever darkening forest road. "You've never actually been white water rafting."

"Nicholas Wilde, I grew up in a country small town full of rabbits. Without wanting to stereotype anyone," she chuckles, and cocks her head towards him. "Do you think I went rafting?"

"Alright, valid point." Nick concedes. Judy shakes her head slightly and smiles, looking back out the window at the forest. The duo has been driving for about two hours now, after getting breakfast in the small town where they had stayed the night. Nick had thought that the salads which they had eaten "tried too hard" and Judy had argued with him about it for almost an hour. Covertly, Nick steals a glance at her behind his sunglasses. She's been acting for the whole drive, and some part of him wants to know what's wrong. At the same time, however, he doesn't want to act pushy and seem nosy. He's learned the hard way that doing that might lead to some nasty questions he isn't quite prepared to answer. "I should probably warn you, then," he says slowly, "that the route to Firefly Valley requires rafting some serious white water."

"I know that." Judy says defensively.

"I should also notify you that these are Class Four Rapids." Nick says, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Um." Judy says nervously, "What are those?"

"All white water rapids are graded on a scale of one to six to show how hard they are. One is what would happen if your dad was sitting on a pool float drinking a martini and Clawhauser jumped off the high dive into the pool, six is the equivalent of what we did at the old hospital during the Night Howler case, and four is almost in the middle."

Judy giggles. "My dad would probably think that was enough of an adrenaline rush for one day."

"I won't lie to you, Fluff, I think I'm going to drag your dad to a roller coaster one of these days, just to watch his face."

"You wouldn't dare!" She laughs.

"Totally would. You know him, trapped next to a predator on a moving ride in the dark. He would have an aneurysm."

"Okay, okay, I can see that, but honestly, Nick," She leans in a little, adjusting herself in the seat. "He likes you a lot!"

"Oh yeah?" Nick says, forcing his voice to stay relaxed and easygoing.

"Totally! He honestly thinks that you're going to keep me safe while we're on duty."

"He's got the roles a little mixed up in this thing we've got going, Carrots." Nick murmurs. Judy smiles.

"I think it will be nice to have a partner on duty with me. It gets a little dangerous sometimes, and backup isn't always right there."

"I totally get it." Nick says, making sure the car stays straight on the path as the woods begin to close in.

"Hey, Nick?"

"What's up, Officer Fluff?" He chuckles.

"Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you about something." She moves forward slightly. Nick glances out at her from behind his glasses. She's blushing, no doubt about it. Her foot is tapping ever so slightly on the edge of the seat. Nick forces himself to keep breathing. She looks down for a second, and then looks back up.

"So, my parents want to come to Zootopia-"

"Good for them. It's a great city. Take them to meet Chief Buffalo Butt. I'm sure he's a real tourist attraction."

"—but they don't know that I live in a shoebox."

Nick turns toward her slowly, cocking his head slightly. He has an idea of where this conversation might be going. Half of him is screaming at his body to go emotionless, while the other half is having a giant party. _Please, please, please let it be what I think it is._

"You want to stay with me when your parents come into town?" Nick says slowly, completing the unspoken end of the request.

"Would it be too much trouble?" Judy asks nervously.

"Carrots, I'm not going to lie to you, my apartment is really fucking nice." Nick's voice is cautious. "However, you bringing your parents to stay with you and I might carry some implications which I'm not sure you want to give out to those bunnies."

"Such as?" Judy asks quickly. Nick stares at her. She can't possibly be this naïve. No way in hell. He waits, and then the realization dawns on her face. A mixture of emotions crosses her muzzle, faster than he can register. He sees three for sure: shock, embarrassment, and then anger. Wait, anger?

"You can't seriously believe I care about that." She says fiercely.

"These are your parents." Nick implores.

"Nick, my parents need to be okay with my friends. If they think I'm dating a fox, then so what? They should be okay with that, it's my life!"

"You sound like you're fourteen right now." Nick says dryly. "Carrots, I'd be fine dating you. You're way too good for me anyways, and if there was a point where I had to make that decision, I know what my answer would be. However, I don't want to let you subject yourself to the awkwardness and pain that's going to come from having your parents stay with me."

Judy blinks. Nick feels confused, and then realizes what he's just said.

 _Shit._

"First of all, Nicholas," She says icily, "you're a sweet, kind, funny, charming fox who any girl would be lucky to have. My parents understand that, and to be perfectly honest I'm surprised they haven't tried to set me up with you yet. However, that might be because, as is so often the case, _you are right._ They can't possibly conceive of me dating anyone who isn't a rabbit. But they need to understand that rabbits and foxes can get along."

There's silence, and then Judy claps her paw over her mouth, blushing redder than a beet. Nick is breathing fairly rapidly now, replaying her words over and over again in his mind. He glances out the window and freezes.

"Holy mother of…" He trails off. "Judy, look." He doesn't check whether or not she does, but continues to stare out the window. The forest has widened into a parking lot, which is about half full. Nick isn't entranced by this, but by the roiling white water which passes by the side of the parking lot and trails off into the woods, glittering in the noonday sunlight.

"That's a lot of white water." Judy whispers. The pair looks at each other, their previous conversation pushed into the backs of their minds.

"Let's get started, then." Nick says with a grin.

The fox parks the car and the duo gets out. Nick makes sure he's got everything in his bag- tent, signal flares, sleeping bag, water bottle, flashlight, and all the rest. Judy is already waiting for him by the side of the lot when he gets done checking his equipment.

"Could you have been any slower?" She complains.

"You're just too fast." Nick winks, slinging his pack across his shoulders. He's lugged the kayak out from the back of the car and the two stand facing each other.

"Carrots, hold up." Nick says slowly, putting his pack down. He focuses on her, looking serious. "I'm not going to let you drown, but you have to promise me that you will listen and do exactly what I say when we're rafting, okay?"

"Nick, when have I ever gone against your advice?" She smiles.

"I can count three times today."

"Well, your advice is just bad, then." She blusters. Nick smiles.

"Trust me on this one- if you don't want your fluffy butt to end up very cold, very wet and very, very unconscious, you need to do exactly what I say."

"I will."

"Let's rock and roll, partner." Nick grins, and the two set off towards the river.

"Hold it!" A voice cries from behind Nick. He freezes, and turns. An antelope is hurrying towards them in a park ranger's uniform. He looks as though he finds himself a very important figure. Nick dislikes him instantly. He reaches them and extends his hoof. "Jeremy Buckthorne, ranger."

"Judy Hopps, ZPD." Judy says, shaking the hoof.

"Nick Wilde, Playfox Magazine." Nick says seriously, shaking the hoof. Jeremy looks very taken aback.

"You work for Playfox Magazine?"

"Do you want to see my chest?" Nick says.

"No!" Jeremy cries. Nick forces the smile which he feels appearing on his lips back down again. "Sorry, we just don't get many people out here for the river. Most just want to go on a little nature tour. I don't suppose you two would be going to Firefly Valley?"

"Yes, actually." Nick says. Jeremy nods.

"Alrighty, then. I should tell you it's not for anyone, but obviously for a police officer and a capable male… _model…_ like yourself, it'll be less difficult. What you're going to want to do is walk for about a half an hour down this path, and there will be a dock. You're going to want to set off from there, and depending on how efficiently you raft, there's a chance it could be as little as a one hour trip. However, if you get stuck behind rocks, it could last as long as six hours."

"Well, thank you." Judy smiles.

"No problem, Ms. Hopps. I think you'll enjoy it." The ranger smiles and departs in the direction from which he came. Judy turns, shaking slightly, to Nick.

" _You!"_ She punches him in the arm. " _Are not!_ " Punch. " _A male!_ " Punch. " _Stripper!_ "

"I could be, though." He says weakly. This earns him another punch straight to the gut. He doubles over slightly, but laughs it off. He honestly deserves it, if he's perfectly straight with himself. Slowly, the two make their way into the woods, Nick lugging the kayak and Judy hopping along beside him. The two banter as they make their way laboriously but steadily into the forest, and the world behind them fades to a mere afterthought, a wisp of smoke in the breeze.

* * *

Nick's panting bad, water flying all around him. They're entering the most dangerous section of this, after getting stuck twice and kayaking for almost three hours, they're close to the second dock and the dismount point. However, the most dangerous section now involves a set of almost forty five degree vertical inclines roiling with sharp rocks and icy spray. Judy has been working herself senseless in the front, and now Nick shouts commands and the two mammals work as a unit, navigating the freezing water. Nick is a little concerned. Up to this point, the only really big problem has been the semi constant waves, which pummel at the sides of the kayak. However, at that point the biggest waves were only three feet high at their peak. They're getting bigger now, and with the wind picking up as well, the situation is beginning to actually look risky.

"No matter what!" He shouts to Judy over the crashing and boiling of the water. "Don't go into the waves sideways! We will tilt and fall out if we do!"

"We're going to be fine!" She shouts. "I can see the dock!"

And, of course, that's how Nick screws the whole thing up. He leans out, because he wants to see the dock. He feels, with a horrible sinking feeling, the craft spin slightly, and go into the next set of waves sideways. Water crashes in on all sides, slamming into him and making his head spin. He pulls off his backpack and holds it up to shield it from the water which is rushing in. He takes his one free arm and latches it around Judy and the boat. They're underwater for real now, the sounds of the world muted as Nick struggles to find footing of any kind. With a splash, he pulls himself up, the pack still held with one paw, Judy held tightly to his chest with his other arm and the last paw holding one of the straps to the boat. Moving with great force, he drags himself to the shore, drops the boat and the pack and collapses, unrolling his arm and allowing Judy to lie there, panting in unison with him.

"Well, that was…" Judy finally manages.

"Let us never speak of the white water rafting again." Nick murmurs.

 **A/N: SO: regarding the whole argument in the car in this chapter—**

 **; )**

 **Savor the fluff. I love writing for these two characters so much. They're so much fun to write the dialogue for. R &R if you want, PM me if you want, I'd love to hear from you. It's always fun to talk to you guys. Thank you so much for putting up with me. Stay chill. Next update will come much quicker than this one, I promise. **

**NJ**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Fourteen Continuous Hours of Hiking is _Just What the Doctor Ordered_

Nick stirs, pulled from sleep by a drowsy sense of security. This sense pulls him from his sleep easily, simply because he almost never feels this way. Sleep, for him, has always just been about recharging, nothing more. When he hustled, he often slept the minimum amount he needed to look and feel fresh, because time lost was money lost. He gets bad nightmares in his sleep occasionally. He'll see his family falling apart all over again, or he'll see Bellwether leveling that gun at his head in the museum. No nightmares tonight though, and even his sleep-addled brain can understand that no nightmares and a sense of security isn't normal. Slowly, the fox opens his eyes.

He's in his sleeping bag, lying on his side, his arm extended out. The tent which he brought surrounds him on all sides, it's dark green fabric extending up on all sides of him. His fur is fluffy and still damp, which is a result, undoubtedly, of the part of last night where he _literally fell into a river._ He starts to move when he's aware of a large, fluffy mass near his chest. Spreading the sleeping bag slightly, he looks in and sees Judy sound asleep, her paws clutching the cream colored fur on his chest, her ears down and her face contented.

Nick's thought process breaks down almost immediately.

 _HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLY-! …let's wake her up. Why does she look like that? She smells really nice. Her parents are going to strangle me. What should we do about the whole part where you need to get out of the sleeping bag?_ Nick shakes his head, and the train of thought dissipates. Tensely, he looks around, trying to notice anything but the rabbit sleeping next to him. A piece of paper catches his eye and he picks it up. It's a note, written in pen and carefully placed behind Judy.

 _Dumb fox-_

 _My entire pack is soaking wet, as is the sleeping bag that was inside of it. I'm sharing with you. Get over it._

 _Hugs,_

 _Judy_

Nick sighs slightly in relief. That makes more sense, if he's honest with himself. He's glad he didn't do anything he'd regret, and he didn't hurt her either. He swats away the devious part of him which tells him that maybe he actually _wouldn't_ have regretted doing something down that line, and looks back down at Judy. She's generally very cute, which is something he avoids telling her for multiple reasons. However, in sleep she is beautiful. Her face is one of perfect relaxation, one which makes Nick feel slightly light headed. He shakes his muzzle, more forcefully this time, to clear his brain once again. A pressing matter settles into place. _We need food._

He extricates himself from Judy's grasp and crawls out of the sleeping bag, writing a note to explain that he's gone out to Judy on the back of her note from last night. He puts on his clothes (a simplistic black long sleeve t-shirt, jeans, and boots) and heads out into the forest. Back when he wanted to become a Ranger Scout, there was an entire section of the handbook about edible plants. Nick had to study that part. What he neglects to mention to most people is that he also taste tested every plant on that list. All three hundred of them. He gives a small smile at the memory, and slips through the trees, searching. He's in luck. The bushes in this part of the forest hold all sorts of different berries. Most are highly toxic, but Nick picks through the bushes slowly to find the ones that aren't. It's fairly difficult, but at the end he's got a fairly large collection of roots, berries, and assorted nuts that should count as breakfast. He heads back the way he came, winding through the trees, observing the strange insects as they float in the air, the sun rising slowly and sending light in sprawling beams through the clearing.

"Judy, you awake?" He asks quietly, entering the tent through the flap. He finds the rabbit in question sitting up already, lying on top of his backpack reading a book. She glances up as he walks in, and his eyes travel to the book. The title is "King of the Mountains" and shows a very muscular male rabbit carrying a swooning female rabbit in his arms. The whole image is set against the backdrop of the sun setting behind a set of mountain.

"Nick!" She cries, and attempts to stuff the book away into her bag. He's too fast for her, however. In one slick motion, he's next to her, and the book is in his paws. A grin spreads across his face. He never expected blackmail material this early in the morning.

" _He's a lone wolf, and she's a traitor for the cause."_ He reads off the back, mirth seeping through every crack in his voice. "Carrots, why didn't you tell me you read shitty romance novels?"

"I don't!" She protests. "It was just the only thing I could find at the library."

"Suuurrree." Nick says wryly, flipping through it. His eyes widen as certain words catch his attention. "Robin _hood,_ Cottontail, this isn't just any type of romance novel- this is _smut!_ " He begins to laugh. "Bad smut, too, I might add. If you want good smut you might as well go read _Fifty Shades of Greyhound._ " She's blushing from head to toe now, shaking with embarrassment. Nick winks, and tosses her the book. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"I hate you." She seethes.

"Love you too, Hopps." Nick says absently, without really thinking about it. He unloads the stuff which he gathered and spreads it out on the ground of the tent. Judy moves forward slowly, looking slightly confused.

"Did you get all of this?" She asks after a pause. Nick wonders for a second if she was going to say something else, but thinks better of it.

"Yep. Ranger Scout training finally came in useful." He says without missing a beat. Judy takes one of the berries and pops it into her maw experimentally. She bites down, and her face lights up.

"That's really good!" She cries. Nick chuckles.

"They're called Mountain Berries. They only appear at high altitudes, and I think that this is the lowest I've ever seen a group of them at one time." The duo sits and the two begin to eat. Slowly, they work their way through the pile in front of them until only a few nuts remain. Nick puts them into his bag for safekeeping and stretches contentedly, smiling at Judy, who smiles back. For a moment, they just sit there. Then, by some unspoken agreement, the two sit up and together, they walk outside to take down the tent.

* * *

"Nick!" Judy calls. The two have been walking together for god knows how long, but Judy's the one who's navigating the route. From what she said earlier, it's going to be a fourteen hour hike to Firefly Valley. Nick has barely felt it up to this point, but he's beginning to feel a little out of breath as he climbs up a very slight but steady incline. God knows what it's going to be like after fourteen hours, especially since almost half of that would be over rocky, dangerous terrain.

Judy calls him to where she stands. She's looking through the trees, and seems at a loss for words. When Nick reaches her, he understands why. From here, the forest opens slightly to show the peaks of two gigantic mountains. In the distance, a couple of miles away, Nick can vaguely see a very small path leading into a space between the gigantic stone monoliths.

"You think that's where we're going?" He asks cautiously.

"Definitely." She nods. "I checked the map and that's the only place that makes sense."

"I really, _really_ do not like the look of that terrain. Plus, with the mountains like that, I'm not even sure how it's going to be possible to find a valley." Nick says slowly, trying to manipulate the mountains in his mind, searching for space where Firefly Valley could be hidden.

"Let's just follow the map and see where it takes us."

"All your ideas are bad." Nick grumbles.

"Says the fox who apparently got fifteen extra laps at the Academy because he asked the instructor whether a classmate of his was any good in bed!"

Nick chortles. "The look on their faces was worth every freaking lap, Hopps. You have no idea." Judy laughs and begins to trek towards the mountain, and Nick follows in her wake.

The two trudge on together in silence for a while. Finally, Nick breaks the tension.

"I think I'm going to go invite my mother to graduation." Judy's head spins around so fast you'd have thought it was a top. His words have achieved the desired results. Her face lights up and her ears stand on end.

"Nick, that's amazing!"

"It might suck." Nick says fairly.

"No, it won't." She says defiantly.

"It might, Carrots. I don't know what kind of drugs she'll be on. If she's clean, she might actually recognize me." He gives a bitter laugh. "I want to invite her because I honestly think you're right. I think that we need to start somewhere, and my graduation is going to be the best place to do that."

"To do what?"

"To start over, Judy."

"Can I meet her?" The rabbit asks tentatively. Nick does a double take.

"Are you kidding? No." He says shortly. "I do not need you getting that kind of shit."

"What kind of shit?"

"Fluff, my mother can and will say some very prejudiced things to you, I guarantee it. She's not great at being politically correct, and she thinks everyone is out to get her, which at some points of her life might have been true. I am telling you bluntly that meeting her is a bad idea."

"I don't care." Judy says, sticking her tongue out at him. "I'm going to talk to her and it's going to be perfectly pleasant."

"You're out of your mind." Nick says flatly. "But," He murmurs grudgingly, "I don't think I'll be able to convince you of that. Don't come running to me when she calls you a country bumpkin."

"There's no way she would do that!" Judy looks shocked. "Would she?"

"Yeah, I have no doubt that something along those lines will come up if you try to talk to her."

Judy sighs. "I'm still going to try it."

"That's the Officer Toot-Toot I know!" Nick announces brightly. "Always doing whatever she wants, even if it's a terrible idea." He winks at her. "You know what I think that kind of behavior is?"

"What?" She probes blankly. There's a spark of realization the moment the word leaves her mouth, and her brow furrows.

"I think it's C-U-T-E!" Nick spells out pithily. There's a pause, and when Nick looks down, Judy has vanished. "Fluff?" He calls. No answer. He's starting to get worried. He'd expected her to try to beat him up, not run away. "Judy? Are you th—?" He's cut off by Judy's jumping out of a tree above him to land on top of him. He falls, desperately trying to shield himself from the rain of expertly placed attacks to his chest and neck.

"Uncle! Uncle!" He wheezes. Judy stands up, puffing slightly, one foot on top of his torso.

"Say 'Judy Hopps is a respectable, real police officer.'" She whispers fiercely.

"What?" Nick spits.

"To make up for calling me the 'c' word." She says, pushing down slightly harder.

"Fine! Judy Hopps is a respectable, real police officer!" He groans. She hops off of him, and he gets up off the ground, dusting himself off. "You're terrifying, you know that?" He glances over at the bunny, who's watching him.

"I have to be." She gives a devilish smile. "I wouldn't be able to control you otherwise."

Nick has to smile at these words. He walks forward so that he stands over her, and then kneels down so that they're eye to eye.

"Thank you for controlling me." Nick says sarcastically. "I sort of need it sometimes." Judy blinks slightly. Nick stands up, turns, and glances around. "Where were we going?"

"This way." Judy says dazedly, turning haphazardly. Nick smiles, and follows the rabbit's lead. _Maybe this hike won't be that stressful after all._

This particular thought proves true. Even as the sun rises to its full height and begins to sink, Nick enjoys himself in terms of harassing his rabbit companion. After what seems like an eternity, the two reach a segment of the hike where the ground changes from the dark, earthy terrain which they've been walking over for hours to rocky. The incline changes too, and suddenly they're walking up steep slopes on stairs cut directly into the rock of the mountain. The conversation drifts from topic to topic, but never loses steam. This confuses Nick slightly. In his personal experience, he likes silence better. But he wants to make this rabbit talk. He doesn't like the silence, he wants to hear her voice. He thinks about telling her this, but determines that she'd just get weirded out, and decides against it. All the while, the terrain is becoming worse and worse, rockier and rocker. Nick's doing alright, he had to run far more than his classmates at the Police Academy due to his habit of mouthing off, so he's in good shape. Judy is struggling, however, and not because she isn't fit. The terrain doesn't suit her. She's not built for endurance, despite the fact that she's trained for it. As the altitude climbs higher, rain begins to fall, slowly at first, and then harder. Nick finds himself becoming exhausted too. They need to find a place to rest, and soon.

"Nick." Judy pants. "Look." Nick breaks from his mind and looks to where she points. The trail which they've been following is now leading onto the side of a gorge. The trail is quite literally cut into the gorge wall, and it's barely wide enough for two mammals to go through single file. At the end of the trail is a great bridge, which disappears into a giant white cloud of mist. The sun is very low now, and it makes the mist take on an almost eerie quality. "We can get over the bridge." Judy huffs, water dripping down her fur. "Then we can set up camp."

"Let's do it." Nick agrees. The two set out, pouring their energy into this final push. The path seems to stretch on ahead of them interminably. Nick is hopeful. It's raining harder now, lightning flashing around them as Nick watches.

And then Judy falls.

He hears it before he sees it. The sound of a rabbit losing balance, the exhaustion getting to her, and slipping. He hears her hit her side on the rock and tumble off the side onto the edge of the ravine. He's fast, and it's just enough. He grabs her, locking his arms into place. She's dangling over the edge of the gorge, her side scraped, her face ashen.

"Nick…" She pleads. He's not sure what she's going to ask of him. He just knows that he shakes his head. She closes her eyes, her whole body shaking. He's not strong enough, not to pull up a slick rabbit in heavy rain with one arm. His grip is sliding.

"Let go! You're going to go over with me!" She cries. He looks at her, into her violet eyes.

"Let's do it." He whispers, and slides over the edge. They're falling together off the path, into the gorge. Nick wraps her in his body, shielding her. He makes himself like a pencil, attempting to minimize the surface area at the bottom. Judy is shouting something, the wind is howling, the rain is splattering down on all sides. He hits the water below him hard, submerging with a great splash. He lets Judy go, feels her swim to the top easily. There's a fair amount of pain surging through his ankle. He needs to sleep. One final, fleeting thought crosses his mind. _Great. More Water._

Blackness overtakes his vision, and he loses consciousness, the sounds of the storm fading to nothingness.

 **A/N: Cliffhangers are just the best, aren't they? This is the point where I don't update for a week because I'm sadistic. Just kidding, I won't do that to you. I will update relatively soon. In the meantime, go catch up on other WildeHopps fics. I'm basically stalking Always My Sly Bunny, Always My Dumb Fox right now. Thank you for reading so much. I appreciate it more than I can say. Stay chill.**

 **NJ**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:**

 **;)**

 **…**

 **The time has come. (NOTE: Many of the events which occur in this chapter would, if they took place in real life, lead to fights and the ends of friendships. However, I've got a motherf*cking ship to sail.)**

Chapter Six: Firefly Valley

Nick wasn't positive at first that he was awake. He couldn't discern the difference between the darkness behind his closed eyelids and the prolific darkness which surrounded him on all sides when he awoke. However, the gentle breath on his neck gave his state away. Slowly, he lifts his head, trying to make out where he is.

The tent has been erected around him, its walls curtaining him from the pitter patter of rain dripping outside. Judging from how late it is, it must be very, very late at night. He can see anything, so his other senses are going into overdrive, attempting to find things that he can analyze and use to find out more about his scenario. This is an old instinct, going back to when foxes lived in the wild.

The first thing he notices is the smell. The air in the tent has that same, normal rain scent that it should have. It's also tainted with the smell of antiseptic, and of distress. Nick isn't quite sure how he knows what _distress_ smells like, but he does. It's a combination of that salty smell you get near the sea and a sort of iron, metallic sort of stench which, when mixed together, gives him unpleasant memories of his childhood home. Fun stuff. He sniffs the air again slightly. There's something else there, more intense. It's a unique scent, something he can't quite identify. Pieces of it stick out to him. There's honeysuckle and jasmine, ink, dirt, river water, and a telling odor which brings up the countryside. That's Judy's scent. Nick is sort of relieved to catch it, but then he notices something fairly odd. The scent is mixed, unnatural. Nick knows what she normally smells like. This is something different. There are traces of the smells of paper, sugar, chocolate, and blueberries. Nick has long learned to ignore his own scent. But that is what this is, no doubt about it.

There are two plausible explanations here. _One,_ Nick thinks slowly, _we've been sleeping in the same bag so of course we're going to smell like each other, her more so than me._ That was plausible, and it could very well have happened. In fact, given the chain of events, that's the most likely. He could probably wash the residual scent off in a river if there was one nearby. _Two, I'm making a mistake and misinterpreting one of the scents._ Not likely. Not likely at all. _Third,_ he thinks, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks, _she marked me._

Marking someone is a pretty serious deal. Every mammal has their own unique scent, and sometimes it's almost like a fingerprint to find someone. But when you actively rub your scent off on someone, it's like you mix your two identities. In a more primitive world, marking someone would effectively make you the same person in the eyes of the law. Nick has always had a rising suspicion that Judy must have had some pretty serious education on all the reasons not to "mark before marriage." At one point, Nick had to explain to her, exasperatedly, that you could mark mammals that you weren't romantically involved with, but it was rare and generally involved family members.

A bunny marking a fox… that was unheard of. Nick could think of absolutely no cases off the top of his head, and doubted that trying to go back through his entire life was going to make much of a difference. It was against custom, entirely against societal norm.

And Nick fucking loves the idea of it.

He shakes his muzzle silently, forcing the thought out of his head. He doesn't know what happened, and until he does, it's rude to assume anything. He glances down, and feels the tip of his nose brush the top of Judy's head. She's in the sleeping bag with him again. He sighs. It is probably the sleeping bag thing, although it means he should probably mention it to her when she wakes up. He thinks about going back to sleep, but feels strangely alert. He tries to shift, but feels a dull, aching pain in his torso and slinks back into his original position. Feelins the movement, Judy stirs. Nick blinks.

"You awake, Carrots?" He murmurs.

"Nick!" _Well, she's awake now._ "How do you feel?"

"Not horrible." Nick says. "I've got this ache in my chest but it's not bad."

"Well, an ache in your chest is the least you should have got." Her voice is angry now. Nick blinks, trying to decipher this sudden mood swing. What did he do? "You did fall off a cliff."

Ah yes, that's it. He jumped off a cliff, wrapped her in his body like she was a rag doll, and fell directly into a river. Personally, he would rather have spent the afternoon going off a diving board into a hot tub filled with liquid chocolate. She's right, of course. He should have multiple concussions at the least. This is what he gets for becoming cop- things hurt him less now. There's a joke that could be made about that, but not yet. Now is not the time to antagonize the ZPD's finest.

"I did, didn't I?" He says weakly. Even in the dark, he can feel her glare on him.

"Why did you do that?!" She demands. "You could have died!"

"Umm." He murmurs. There's really no way out of this line of questioning for him. If he answered with snark and cynicism, she would become even angrier. If he answered honestly, this would become far more awkward than any conversation should be at Marian knows what hour in the morning. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Let go, maybe?!" She says. He blinks, and then narrows his eyes at where she is as she crawls out of the sleeping bag to sit above him and look down on him.

"Woah, woah, woah." He says slowly. "You're telling me you would have wanted me to let you fall to your death just so that I could survive?"

"If that's how it had to be, then yes!"

"You've got your priorities fucked up, Fluff." He laughs mirthlessly. "You want to save me? Save yourself first."

"Care to enlighten me on that point?!" She yells.

"Figure it out for yourself! It's not that hard." His voice is rising as well, which is annoying. Nick has a very bad record when it comes to his temper. More often than not, he slips up. His sly routine can't cope with the change in his attitude, and vanishes entirely when this happens. He breathes for a second, trying to calm himself down. A question pops into his mind. "Carrots, can you smell that?"

"Smell what?!" She shouts, looking alarmed and confused. She still looks angry, but spins around, sniffing the air. She does this for a couple of seconds and then freezes, turning back to him.

"Oh." She says blankly. Another pause. "I… I smell like _you."_

"You smell a _lot_ like me, Carrots." He gives a slight smirk. "I'm assuming that's because of the sleeping bag, and I suppose that it makes sense." She seems to be at a loss for words. He'd be lying if he said that the look on her face doesn't hurt just a little, so he forges on. "Listen, it's no big deal, you just need to wash off really well when you get back with some neutralizing shampoo. They sell it pretty much everywhere. On top of that, you're probably going to have to go and wash again after that to smell like normal."

"Why can't it just…" She stops abruptly. Nick stares at her, the end of the sentence hanging in midair.

"Why can't it just stay like it is?" He completes the sentence slowly. She nods. "Because if you smell like another mammal, Carrots, it means they're yours. If you smell like me, it means you're _mine._ It means no one else can touch you- it's ridiculously primitive, to be fair."

"So if you smell like me, does that mean you're, um, taken? By me?" She says. Nick nods.

"Exactly. If I smell like you, people would stop coming up and hitting on me, it's like a subliminal engagement ring. The thing is, foxes smell a lot stronger than rabbits. The only way for me to actually smell like you for a good long while would be for you to mark me."

Judy goes very red, then very white, and then an odd expression comes over her face. She moves forward, almost entranced, and places her paws on Nick's shoulders.

"Carrots, what are you doing?" Nick says nervously. Gently, Judy bows his head. Nick freezes like a statue. Slowly, she takes her chin and drags it across the top of his head and down the slope of his brow. She pulls back, a satisfied smile on her face. Nick is dumbstruck, the smell almost too much for him. "Did you just- what…?"

"Yep." She smiles. Nick stares at her. The weight of what she's done seems to be sinking in, and her eyes widen slowly. "Oh my god."

"It's alright, Carrots." Nick says feebly. "I'll just go wash off." He turns and forces his way out of the tent. He glances back only once, and then runs off as fast as he can. He has no idea where he's going, he just needs space to think, to be alone. The forest is consuming him, crushing in on all sides. He doesn't normally mind, but now it's crushing, consuming. He freezes, spinning around. He's hopelessly lost. He's freaking out, for a variety of reasons. _Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down!_

He hears something. It's the sound of running water. Even in the slowly opening darkness, he can make his way to that sound. Slowly, he moves through the trees, touching his way until he finds his way to a river. It's a small one, maybe only ten feet across. For a second, he thinks it's just a dry bed, until he sees a leaf, dropped from one of the trees, carried as if by the wind down through the forest. The water is crystal clear. Hypnotized, he leans down to take some, and immediately falls in as a sharp pain sears through his chest. The world spins for a second, and then he feels a set of paws dragging him out of the riverbank.

"Probably shouldn't have done that." He murmurs.

"Stupid fox!" Judy cries. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was embarrassed, cut me some slack!"

"You were injured!"

"Are we really going to argue in the dark while in the middle of the woods?"

"Yes, we are!"

"Carrots, look- you shouldn't have done what you did." He sits up, the words feeling like acid in his mouth. He wants to say it, wants so, _so badly_ to tell her that what she did was good, what she did was right because he genuinely wanted this to happen, wanted to have a strange undertone of honey and earth. "You understand, right? You're stuck with me. I can't let you deal with the hatred you're going to get because of that."

"So _noble!"_ She drawls, tears in the corners of her eyes. "You ever think that maybe I want to be stuck with you, Nick? That maybe you're the best thing that happened to me? Maybe I want to deal with hate! I dealt with a lot of hate as a _meter maid_ , for fuck's sake! And if I have to deal with hate to be stuck with you, then hate it is!" She's full on crying now, tears tracking down her muzzle. Nick is frozen, time seems to have stopped moving. Slowly, agonizingly, he gets off the ground.

"You don't have a carrot pen on you, do you?" He says shortly.

"Wha- what are you talking about?! NO!" She shouts.

"Perfect." Nick murmurs, and kisses her. It's the easiest hustle he's ever pulled. He feels her go completely slack, feels her melt in his arms. He tries not to laugh. It's strange how he's gone from one emotion to an entirely different one so fast. He pulls back from the kiss. The darkness has lifted enough so that he can see her face.

"You have sharp teeth." She whispers.

"Is that a complaint?" He asks.

"We need to talk." She says slowly.

"I'd probably agree with that." Nick says idly, still savoring the kiss, replaying it in his mind.

"Do you want to go back to the tent or-?" She looks as though she's trying not to pass out. Nick feels the exact same way. Suddenly, her ears shoot straight up in the air, and she glances around. "Do you hear that?"

"What?"

"That sound."

Nick strains his ears and suddenly he can hear it too. A very clearly defined whistling noise. Holding a finger up to his lips, he begins to creep in the direction of the sound, Judy close behind him. The pair makes their way through the trees, the branches slowing them down only slightly. Nick breaks through the final line of trees and onto a small, rocky ledge, overlooking the single most beautiful sight he has witnessed.

Below him, spread out like a painting, is an enormous valley. Twin mountains rise up to the sky, encompassing the small oasis of beauty on all sides with stark, unforgiving rock. In the center of the valley is a perfectly circular lake, with small streams running into it on all sides. The water is so clear it looks like air. The sun has begun to peek out over the mountains, and a faint breeze makes the trees below release a strange, ethereal whistling noise. A great waterfall tumbles into the lake from nearby. Mist hangs over the mountains like a cloud.

"Wow." Judy whispers.

"This is it, huh?" Nick says softly, staring out. He's suddenly aware of just how lucky he is to be seeing this, just how rare a sight like this is. He looks out, over the beauty and onto the stark mountain face on all sides.

"Carrots." He whispers.

"Nick?"

"I know we have to talk, but can I kiss you again?"

Even in the early morning light, Nick can see the smile forming on her muzzle.

"Why don't you come over here and try it?" She says sweetly. Nick blinks, and then smirks.

"Sly bunny." He walks towards her.

"You know it." She whispers, and pulls him into a kiss as the sun rises up over the valley.

 **A/N: And the Academy Award for "Master of Fan Service" goes to…**

 **NeonJackal!**

 **Seriously though, I think that this story will have one more chapter and then an epilogue. For all you Warmbloods fans, I have good news and bad news. Good news: there is a storyline and a physical rough draft for a second installment of that story. On the other hand, it delves into unfamiliar territory and there's a lot of non-canon stuff in it (if you thought the** ** _first_** **Warmbloods delved into that area, just wait). It's also much, much darker. Tell me if you want to see it. Thank you for reading. Stay chill.**

 **NJ**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Something

Nick made it to the water first. They'd had to go back to get the tent and most of their stuff, but he had been too eager to get to this place to really spend much time packing his stuff. He'd done with the tent just what he generally did with his laundry- thrown it into a heap, unfolded, somewhere where he could get it later. Following this, he'd trounced his way back to the lake, and stood on the edge of the water, staring out. They hadn't been lying, the water was like liquid crystal, a prism held in check by the natural wonder around it. Nick's eyes swept over the scenery, from the trees on all sides of the lake to the endless ocean of smooth grey stones which formed the beach to the place where he knew the water started. If he wasn't looking for it, he wouldn't even have realized it was there. He feels a movement to his right, and sees Judy, clothes changed, step equal to him on his side. She stares out at the lake with him, and he feels a strange sense of contentment settle over him.

"Nick-!" She begins.

"There it is!" He cries.

"What?!" She shouts, looking around.

"The point where this beautiful moment got ruined." He smirks.

"Thanks, slick." She fixes him with a cold glare, and sighs. "Nick… we really do need to talk. Now, preferably- but it should probably be before we get back to the city. We need to have some sort of game plan if we're going to make this thing work."

This is not at all what Nick has been expecting. He's been waiting for the "it was a mistake" line for an hour and a half now. He had sort of resigned himself to it.

"Wait, you want to make this work?" He says bluntly. She turns beet red.

"Of- wait- no- I- well, _yes!"_ She splutters. He gives her that trademark half smile, and turns back to the lake, picking up one of the stones from the ground.

"Good." He skips the stone, sending it flying over the mirror-like surface. "So do I, fluff." There's a short pause, but it's not uncomfortable. Both are lost in their own thoughts, each swamped by the events of the past forty eight hours.

"I think that you should move in with me." He says, breaking the silence again. He braces himself for the tide of denial, but again receives nothing.

"Sweet cheese and crackers, _yes."_ She squeals. "Do you actually have leg room in your apartment?"

"I'm a philanthropist, Carrots." He says with a light smile. "Besides, that way we can get you out of that shoebox you've been living in."

"Finally." Another pause. "I'm going to tell my parents about you. Soon."

"Er." Nick freezes, on the verge of skipping another stone. "When?"

"After they meet you for the first time. Just make a really good first impression, and then I'll tell them."

"They might not take that very well." He chuckles uneasily. "Didn't your father try to give you a bag of quasi-legal anti-fox items as your "moving out" gift?"

"He's changed." She pauses, rubbing her foot in the pebbles. "Hopefully."

"Well…" Nick shrugs. "If you trust him, I trust him."

"They'll like you, I know they will." She nods. "Plus, they've got to be used to this by now. I'm not exactly famous in my family for doing things the conventional way."

"I would expect not."

"My sisters are going to go nuts." She says, shaking her head slightly. "They complain nonstop about all their bunny suitors."

"Why?"

"Rabbits are… enthusiastic in all respects, but they don't necessarily do all that well at any of them." She blushes slightly. Nick's ears fall flat to his head, and he begins to laugh.

"Those poor, poor fluff balls." He laughs, whipping another stone across the lake as hard and as fast as he can. "Then again, foxes have been outdoing rabbits since the beginning of time."

"Say that again and I will crush your jaw with my legs." Judy says dangerously.

"Is that a threat?" Nick smiles at her through his half lidded eyes. "Sometimes I think that having my head between your legs would be a good situation for both of u-!"

"NICHOLAS WILDE!"

"Alright, sorry." Nick says, not sorry at all. Judy's foot taps rapidly on the ground, and she's desperately trying not to laugh. Nick gives her a wink. "Call me anytime, Fluff, if you want to give that a try."

"You- you- don't do this around my parents!" She blusters, red faced.

"Mmm. You make a fair case, but at the same time, I'm forced to consider the comedic value of talking about your sex life to your parents." He winks at her. "I'm not an idiot, Judy. I'll act like a true officer of the law when I see them."

"Good." She gives a small smile, and then moves on. "What are we going to do about Bogo?"

"Well, I say we talk to him, explain the situation, and see what happens. I think that he'll be fine with it. I'm a new officer, so as long as we keep it under deep wraps while we're on duty, I think that he's going to be alright with it."

"Yeah, seems like the best option." She agrees. Nick pulls back his arm, leans in, and skips the stone halfway across the lake, sending the rock bouncing five times over the surface of the water. "Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not ashamed of you."

Nick reels. "What?"

"I know you think that." She walks in front of him, looking at him with those piercing violet eyes of hers. "You think it about everyone. That people you know are ashamed of you. I know that you think that about me sometimes."

"Judy-"

"Let me finish. I have never been ashamed to know you. You're a wonderful fox and a genuine, caring mammal. You've made my life better in so many different ways. You need to know that I will never leave you."

"Never?" His voice comes out as a whisper.

"Never." Her voice is music to his ears. He's shaking like a phone on vibrate. "We're going to do this."

"Thank you." He feels oddly disconnected. "For everything."

"You lost your family when you were little, right?" He's confused, but he nods. She stares at him nervously, and then leans up, leans into his ear until he can feel her heart beating against his chest, with three beats for every one of his. "You've got me now."

He doesn't speak another word. He grabs her, gently pulling her in close to him, and locks her in a kiss. She gives a small noise of pleasure, and pulls him in with her arms. For a second, Nick sees scenes from his old life, playing like a film in his head.

 _You weren't what anyone expected you would be._

Nick lets go, allowing the memories to fade from his mind.

 _Yes, but that's okay. That is always okay._

 **A/N: One more chapter left in this story! After this and Save Rock and Roll, I might actually take a break for a while, or do something else (it's a surprise.)**

 **SHAMELESS ADVERTISING: Need excess amounts of WildeHopps fluff? Try:**

 **Love is Blind**

 **100 Kisses (Although because of the over 9,000% update rate on this one, if you don't know about it yet I doubt you ever will.)**

 _ **Literally**_ **anything written by Falke or Kittah4**

 **Stay chill. Thank you all for reading/putting up with my crap/listening to my ramblings. I appreciate it more than words can say.**

 **ALSO: Just read about what happened in Nice and what is going on in Turkey. If you are a reader in that region: stay safe. I have your backs from here, and I would be there with you if I could.**

 **NJ**


	8. Chapter 8

Nick

Nick knew he shouldn't have winked at her while she was giving her speech. She managed to get through the majority of it without making a single reference to him. It gave him hope. Then, of course, she had to go and blow it all by referencing the ZPD's "first fox officer," and then in typical fashion, he went and winked at her. Nobody saw it, but still. He didn't want to make an awkward situation for her just yet. If she had to go through a round of "are-you-dating-a-fox" interrogation, he wanted to at least be there to make sarcastic comments from the sidelines.

He stares down at his new badge. It's fresh, sparkling new, and yet he feels like he's owned it for quite a while.

 _Typical,_ he snorts to himself, _just typical, Wilde._

He glances over to where Judy stands. She's besieged by fans, recent graduates of the Academy, and that _damn_ polar bear who threw Nick into the lake during his first week of training. She looks extremely uncomfortable, and throws him a helpless glance. He smirks.

 _Help me,_ she mouths.

 _Not a chance,_ he grins.

There's a tap on his shoulder and he turns around. A small rabbit in a baseball cap is standing on his tiptoes to touch Nick's shoulder. His face is lined, but looks kindly enough. Another bunny stands a few feet away, looking harried as three smaller rabbits chase each other around her legs. Nick studies the male directly in front of him. He has no direct confirmation as to who these mammals are, but he has a good guess. That guess scares him a little.

"Nick? Nick Wilde?" The rabbit asks.

 _No, I'm Fur. Fur Foxsayk._ "Yeah, that's me." Nick says.

"I'm Stu Hopps, and this is my wife, Bonnie." Stu points to the female rabbit, who appears to be dragging two of the kits off of each other by force.

"Oh! You're Judy's parents!" Nick feigns surprise. Of course they are. Now that he looks closer, Stu definitely has Judy's kindly features, the ones that only come out when she tells a story about someone she helped while on the job. "Nice to meet you." The rabbit has a surprisingly firm pawshake when Nick leans down to greet him. This is not a good sign.

"So…" Stu looks to be at a loss for words. Nick doesn't blame him.

"Look." He sighs. Stu looks up at him. "What do you want to know?"

"What do you mean?" Stu asks innocuously. "I just wanted to… admire your fur."

"Stu, shut it." Bonnie says gently.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hopps." Nick says gratefully.

"Don't mention it." Bonnie smiles. "Do you want to come walk with me?"

It sounds more like a command than a question, so Nick decides that it's best to comply for right now. Slowly, he follows the plump rabbit away from the crowd and back towards the stage. She turns towards him, looking him up and down. Nick feels instantly self-conscious.

"Where are your parents?" She asks. He flinches internally. It's not an uncommon line of questioning. Most people see the valedictorian of the Police Academy and wonder why he stands alone, a wine glass in his paw but no proud relatives by his side.

"They couldn't come." It's his standard response. He gives it to everyone when they ask questions like this. It's hard at first, but lying becomes easier over time. Everyone knows that. The expression she's wearing makes her look exactly like an older version of Judy. This does not help the knot in his stomach.

"You're going to be my daughter's partner on the force." It's a statement, a fact.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Nicholas." She says slowly, "The fact that Judy wanted you as a partner came as a little bit of a shock to us."

"I would have been shocked too." Nick points out fairly. "I'm assuming she told you about my less than prizewinning past."

"Yes, she did tell us a little about that." Bonnie laughs. "Stu was less than pleased." She pauses. "I am sorry about earlier, hon, he really didn't know how to start a conversation with you. He even keeps Gideon at a distance. It's really quite annoying of him."

"Ah, don't mention it." Nick gives a half smile.

"You're family, you know." She says, smiling. "You saved Judy from that terrible sheep lady."

"She would have been fine on her own." Nick chuckles honestly.

"She's quite the fighter." Bonnie chuckles right back. "But thank you for treating her like she was your blood sister. It really means a lot. In the line of work you two have, you can never know what's going to happen."

Nick bites back the sarcastic comments which move to the tip of his tongue when Bonnie says this. Instead, he settles for the vaguest possible answer which is still true.

"Judy means a lot to me. She's become a lot more than a friend to me."

Bonnie nods pleasantly. Nick smirks internally. _Judy's gonna kill me later._

"Mom!" Nick turns and sees Judy sprinting full speed towards them. She skids to a halt, trying to tug her mother away from Nick. "What are you doing here?"

"We came to see you give the speech, hun-bun!" Bonnie squeals. "You did so good!"

"Mum! Gerroff!" Judy squirms as Bonnie wraps her in a tight hug. Nick gives her a toothy grin, which she returns easily with a glare that could kill a fully grown rhino.

"Jude the Dude!" Her father bounces up, ruffling the top of her head. Nick actually laughs out loud at this.

"What was that?" He asks through laughs.

"Oh, that's her favorite pet name." Stu says fondly. "'Jude the Dude.' Has she never told you that?"

"Why no, sir, she hasn't!" Nick turns to Judy, the picture of hurt. "Why, Carro- Judy? Why must you keep secrets from me?!"

"Shut it, fox." She growls.

"So what are you two going to do?" Bonnie asks. "After this, I mean?"

"Mmm." Judy looks thoughtful. "I'll probably go to get some paperwork done before tomorrow. By the way, Nick, Bogo says he's got a fairly interesting case for us on your first day."

"Does he?" Nick asks mildly. "Sad. The only things I find truly interesting are shuffleboard and the blueberries from your farm."

"You like those, do ya?" Stu asks excitedly.

"Definitely." Nick isn't about to tell him when those berries came in the most helpful. No need to retell a story the press has told a thousand times.

"I'll send you a package full." Stu says with a smile. "You've got to promise to share with Jude, though."

"Deal." _Easy enough, seeing as we now share a place._

"As you were saying, Judy?" Bonnie is glancing at Nick with an odd look in her eye. Nick brushes it off without thinking about it.

"Oh, nothing." Judy smiles. "I'll probably just get some paperwork done and head home."

"Home?" Bonnie blinks. "Like… to us? To Bunnyburrow?"

"Oh no!" Judy laughs. "No, to my apartment."

"Okay." Stu chuckles. "You just never talked about your apartment as home before."

"Not in front of us, at least." Bonnie's voice is unusually light.

"I should probably head home myself." Nick smiles cheerfully.

"Oh, alright." Stu looks slightly disappointed. "Nice meeting you, son."

As Nick walks back to his car, his phone buzzes. He picks it up. He knows who it's from even before he sees the alert.

 **JUDY:** Pick up dinner, would you?

 **NICK:** You gotcha, Fluff. What do you want?

 **JUDY:** Anything but Purrsian.

 **NICK:** Ayyyyy you stole my line

 **JUDY:** :P

 **JUDY:** Love you

Nick smiles.

 **NICK:** Love you too. I'll buy you desert.

 **JUDY:** YAAAY!

 **JUDY:** Way to be the gentleman around my parents.

 **JUDY:** btw

 **JUDY:** They still don't suspect a thing, but I think my mom's catching on.

 **NICK:** You have to tell them at some point you know.

 **JUDY:** Yeah, yeah.

 **JUDY:** I have a present for you because you were so well behaved around my folks.

 **NICK:** Presents! What is it?

 **JUDY: ;)**

 **NICK:** OH

 **NICK:** OKAY

 **NICK:** HURRY HOME THEN

 **JUDY:** _See you soon 3_

Nick smiles and shuts his phone. He opens the car door and enters the cramped vehicle, still stuffed with their luggage from the trip. His phone buzzes again.

 **JUDY:** Are you okay? I know your Mom didn't come.

He sighs.

 **NICK:** You know what Carrots

 **NICK:** I think I am

 **NICK:** I've got you

 **NICK:** And that's all I could ask for

 **NICK:** It's sad that I didn't see her. Idk what happened you know

 **NICK:** But you're here and if I had to pick I would choose you over her every single fucking time

Nick shuts his phone and puts the key in the ignition. It buzzes again. He whips it out.

 **JUDY:** You're definitely getting that present tonight

Nick smiles and starts the car.

 **THE END**

 **A/N: It's done! Not really! I love this story and I love writing fluff so much that I'm going to start a set of one-shots set after this story. It's going to have some dark moments, and each chapter will read as it's own story, but the chapters will also interconnect and have (in the words of ShippingMammals) "liberal fox-bunny smooching." The first part of that will be up later this week. I will be sending out an announcement to the followers of this story when that one goes up so you can just keep on fluffing out with WildeHopps.**

 **Thank you for reading me and putting up with my crap. I appreciate you all.**

 **Stay chill**

 **NJ**


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